just wondeing why this happens, when the tap water is high in alkaline?????
i really would like to know whats going on.
Full Version: Water Always To Soft Acidic.
There are many things that can make the pH drop - the natural nitrogen cycle causes a lower pH possibility. Do you have any drift wood or other boi-media in your tank? As that rots it can cause a drop in pH.
A very important test you can do is to test the amount of buffer you have in your water. Without the proper amount of buffering agents, your pH will be unstable - allowing small things like orange slices, driftwood and excess fish waste to bounce the pH around.
To test this, you need to look into a kH reading - or carbonate concentration. I describe the water's buffer like a car's shocks - if your shocks on the car are working well and you hit a bump in the road, the car goes over the bump and nothing happens. If your shocks are weak or non-existant, when you go over the bump, the car bounces up and down and up and down for a bit. With good buffering, whenever anything comes along to change the pH, the buffer smooths out the bump to keep the pH steady. IF there is not enough buffer or no buffer in the water, you can see your pH drop rapidly (or even bounce up and down).
I would start by testing your tap water for kH, and even gH if you can. If your kH is below 4 dH or under 70 ppm, you may need to ammend it so you will have a more stable buffer in your tank, using limestone, coral or baking soda.
Because my well water is hard enough to walk on, I use RO water - which has, for all intents and purposes, NO buffer or kH. I mix well water, with auch of baking soda, pumped over coral in the holding tank to create the water I want for my fish. I doubt that you will have to go to such extremes, though!
Post back soon.....
A very important test you can do is to test the amount of buffer you have in your water. Without the proper amount of buffering agents, your pH will be unstable - allowing small things like orange slices, driftwood and excess fish waste to bounce the pH around.
To test this, you need to look into a kH reading - or carbonate concentration. I describe the water's buffer like a car's shocks - if your shocks on the car are working well and you hit a bump in the road, the car goes over the bump and nothing happens. If your shocks are weak or non-existant, when you go over the bump, the car bounces up and down and up and down for a bit. With good buffering, whenever anything comes along to change the pH, the buffer smooths out the bump to keep the pH steady. IF there is not enough buffer or no buffer in the water, you can see your pH drop rapidly (or even bounce up and down).
I would start by testing your tap water for kH, and even gH if you can. If your kH is below 4 dH or under 70 ppm, you may need to ammend it so you will have a more stable buffer in your tank, using limestone, coral or baking soda.
Because my well water is hard enough to walk on, I use RO water - which has, for all intents and purposes, NO buffer or kH. I mix well water, with auch of baking soda, pumped over coral in the holding tank to create the water I want for my fish. I doubt that you will have to go to such extremes, though!
Post back soon.....
What do you mean "tap water high in alkaline"? What's the pH?
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